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It's difficult to get too worked up about whether all the rules that Congress passed to prevent financial Armageddon are working, considering that we went through a crisis of epic proportions despite the voluminous laws on the books. It isn't as if the rules have protected against global economic risks, which are more on the minds of companies than ever.

While they face more uncertainty about the global and domestic economies, companies are increasingly preoccupied with weighty and time-consuming regulatory reports meant to protect the financial world from itself.

Fear-Based: Dow 30 companies are concerned about how uncertainty on the global economic landscape will affect them.
William Waitzman for Barron's

Indeed, a recent report from Intelligize, New York, a financial-reporting and compliance software outfit, found that uncertainty about the future global economic landscape and burdensome reporting rules were among the top concerns of blue-chip companies. The average length of reports routinely filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Those companies' annual 10-K reports now weigh in at an average of 110 pages, compared with 45 pages 10 years ago, when legislators tried to respond to accounting shenanigans by the likes of Enron with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Proxy statements, which once numbered 35 pages, are about 80 pages and are on track to eclipse annual reports.

Intelligize measured the data after hearing anecdotes from customers about how burdensome the reports were becoming. Also high on the list of concerns: the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, government spending, disaster preparedness, and new disclosure rules—some investor-driven, on executive pay.

Next Week: Review

A Mixed Bag

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 157,000 in January, and the jobless rate ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point, to 7.9%. Results in the prior two months were revised up by a total of 127,000. The report reinforced the view that the Fed's asset-purchase program would continue.

Ugly Surprise

Fourth-quarter gross domestic product contracted 0.1%, its first such move in more than three years. The surprising result, well below market expectations, was attributed to a drop in defense spending and slower inventory gain. But MFR's chief U.S. economist said the underlying tone was "substantially better" than the headline, and that GDP growth would trend at about 2%.

Pause That Refreshes?

The Fed said it would hold steady on its monthly $85 billion purchases of bonds to stimulate the economy, though it predicted employment would keep improving at a modest pace. The U.S. central bank said growth in economic activity "paused" in recent months, largely because of "weather-related disruptions and other transitory factors."

Disconnect

The euro rose to 1.3642 against the U.S. dollar, a 14-month high, amid news of lower European Central Bank allotments at its three-month refinancing operations. The single currency rose despite comments by a French minister that France was "totally bankrupt."

Middle East Tensions Rise

Syria and its allies condemned an airstrike inside its borders that was widely attributed to Israel, but didn't indicate any immediate retaliation. Reports said the strike was aimed at missile-laden trucks bound for Hezbollah. Egypt's army head warned the state was on the verge of collapse. A suicide bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy in Turkey.

A Roaring Start

Equity markets scored their best January percentage gains in more than 15 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.77%, or 756.44 points, the best January point gain in history. On Friday, the blue-chip index closed above 14,000 for the first time since 2007. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.68% on the week, to finish at 1513.17. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.017%.